Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) vs Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Only show differences

Better figure, where one is clearly better

Share comparison

MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) compared with MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)

	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M3)	AppleMacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2023	October 2011
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.2″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	3024 × 1964 (better)	1920 × 1200
Panel
Panel	Mini-LED	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	120 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	600 nits	–
HDR peak brightness
HDR peak brightness	1,600 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina XDR display with mini-LED backlighting	17-inch LED-backlit glossy or optional antiglare widescreen display. Apple does not specify panel technology, brightness or refresh rate on this exact UK sheet.
Screen finish
Screen finish	–	Glossy as standard; optional antiglare display
Pixel density
Pixel density	254 ppi	–
Colour range
Colour range	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours	–
Display features
Display features	1,000,000:1 contrast; 1,000 nits sustained full-screen HDR brightness; ProMotion adaptive refresh up to 120 Hz; fixed 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94 and 60 Hz rates; True Tone	–
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M3	Intel Core i7-2760QM
CPU cores
CPU cores	8	4
CPU threads
CPU threads	–	8
Graphics
Graphics	10-core GPU	AMD Radeon HD 6770M (1 GB GDDR5) + Intel HD Graphics 3000
Memory
Memory	8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better)	4 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 2 TB (better)	750 GB
CPU
CPU	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores	2.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 6 MB shared L3 cache, or optional 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 8 MB cache. Notebookcheck identifies the standard processor as i7-2760QM. The maker does not identify the optional processor by part number, so it is not assigned a chip record.
GPU
GPU	10-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing; media engine supports H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, video and ProRes encode/decode, and AV1 decode	AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1 GB GDDR5 and Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384 MB shared DDR3; automatic graphics switching.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory; 8 GB or 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB	4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 in two 2 GB SO-DIMMs; two slots support up to 8 GB in Apple’s specification.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD; 512 GB or 1 TB, configurable to 2 TB	750 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive standard; optional 750 GB 7200-rpm drive or 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. 8× slot-loading SuperDrive with dual-layer DVD writing.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 22 hours	Up to 7 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	69.6 Wh	95 Wh (better)
Weight
Weight	1.55 kg (better)	2.99 kg
Thickness
Thickness	15.5 mm (better)	25 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	312.6 × 221.2 mm	393 × 267 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 15 hours wireless web; marketed as 70 Wh, with actual rating 69.6 Wh in Apple’s footnote	Built-in 95 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to seven hours wireless web browsing in Apple’s October 2011 test. Reference weight varies with configuration and manufacturing process.
Charger
Charger	70 W USB-C Power Adapter	85 W MagSafe Power Adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	With optional 96 W USB-C Power Adapter	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure	Precision aluminium unibody with glass trackpad
Colours
Colours	Silver, Space Grey	Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Thunderbolt, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam	1080p FaceTime HD	FaceTime HD camera
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 up to 40 Gb/s; HDMI; SDXC slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm jack with high-impedance headphone support	One Thunderbolt port up to 10 Gbps, one FireWire 800 port, three USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, ExpressCard/34, separate digital/analogue audio input and headphone output, plus Kensington lock slot.
External displays
External displays	One external display with the built-in screen active; macOS Sonoma 14.6 or later supports two with the lid closed: primary up to 6K 60 Hz (or 4K 144 Hz), secondary up to 5K 60 Hz (or 4K 100 Hz), according to Apple’s updated display support page; original tech specs state HDMI up to 4K 120 Hz	Built-in screen plus an external display up to 2560 × 1600. Thunderbolt carries native Mini DisplayPort; optional DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI adaptors and a third-party HDMI adaptor support other outputs.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, including 12 full-height function keys	Backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four inverted-T arrow keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate and three/four-finger gestures
Speakers
Speakers	Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; spatial audio with Dolby Atmos	Stereo speakers with subwoofers
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming	Omnidirectional microphone below the left speaker grille; supports an iPhone headset microphone
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2 m)	MacBook Pro, display cleaning cloth, 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with wall plug and power cord, printed and electronic documentation; OS X Lion and iLife included. Apple’s environmental report identifies 24 October 2011 as introduction; Engadget reported the refreshed range available for immediate shipping from the US store that day.